Even our natives allowed that
he was a capital performer, against whom they dared not to enter the lists;
for as they subsist chiefly by fishing they are less expert at climbing
on the coast than those who daily practice it.
Soon after they bade us adieu, in unabated friendship and good humour.
Colbee and Boladeree parted from them with a slight nod of the head,
the usual salutation of the country; and we shook them by the hand,
which they returned lustily.
At the time we started the tide was flowing up the river, a decisive proof
that we were below Richmond Hill. We had continued our march but a short time
when we were again stopped by a creek, which baffled all our endeavours
to cross it, and seemed to predict that the object of our attainment,
though but a very few miles distant, would take us yet a considerable
time to reach, which threw a damp on our hopes. We traced the creek
until four o'clock, when we halted for the night. The country, on both sides,
we thought in general unpromising; but it is certainly very superior
to that which we had seen on the former creek. In many places it might be
cultivated, provided the inundations of the stream can be repelled.
